Thank you so much Roger! That's very VERY helpful and yep I'll check out Karl's website!
Thank you so much Roger! That's very VERY helpful and yep I'll check out Karl's website!
Originally Posted by Roger Thoms
Doing some more research, looks like the bleach/fix will stain like a sonna bitch. My plan is to use the lid from a large plastic storage tub (upside down) as my work area. I do that for wet plate chemicals and it works well. Will use a funnel to pour chemicals to avoid splatters. Will rinse things off in the sink but use LOTS of water and wipe down when I'm done. Wife is already on the war path about tiny silver nitrate stains (wet plate) so I need to take great care.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Thanks for the heads up.
Roger
If you use a basin or tray as a water bath, and some drips into it, it will be diluted and way easier to clean up...
Steve K
Curious as I've read some folks using the developer with replenishment though Z131 says not to do this for rotary processors. I assume it's because the rotary process aerates the developer too much. Using replenishment would help with the economics a bit though - maybe aside from the test strips (which are kinda expensive).
Given Z131's capacities, and some maths (including pricing and shipping from Unique Photo), I came up with a per-item price being:
35mm/36: $4.23
120: $6.34
4x5: $1.59
Still more economical than using a lab but quite a bit more than using a blix press kit, though with likely superior results. I do wish Kodak mentioned why replenishment isn't ideal so I didn't have to assume. I use replenishment with XTOL and, granted, much different beast, but get great results with it.
EDIT: Follow up, I noticed there's two C-41 fixer/replenisher options for Unique Photo. I don't know the differences but one is much cheaper and has a higher capacity than the other. EDIT2: Aha! The cheaper one is actually more expensive due to the high cost of shipping.
https://www.uniquephoto.com/product/...ing/flexicolor
https://www.uniquephoto.com/product/...Dmake%2D10l%2D
EDIT3: Thought I would share my numbers so I made a Google Doc which folks can view to see how I'm calculating costs. Folks can copy the doc and plug in their own shipping price as well:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1235198594
Last edited by m00dawg; 12-May-2020 at 11:10. Reason: added UP links, gDoc
FWIW, I think C41 is far easier than B&W. I've been using a JOBO and that helps enormously (highly recommended). Haven't tried E6.... so I leave you there. Most of what I've done is 35mm and 120, but with recent move to make LF 4X5 my main squeeze, I've been B&W just fine and expect to do more C41 soon. I've used Tetenal, Unicolor and Arista C41 and prices vary - mostly dry vs. liquid, but I haven't noticed any differences in results per se.
Much has been made of substituting the original Kodak chems for BLIX used in these packages, but I've never tried that. I've bowed before the acknowledgement of those who have, but it's all one step at a time with me, and BLIX has looked fine enough for most C41. Perhaps REAL art photography merits the finer approach, but for everyday... Portra comes out fine. Give it a try. Don't be intimidated.
I have the Arista E6 kit coming from Freestyle.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
C41 Flexicolor Developer replenisher(5L of replenisher makes over 6L of developer) is 14 bucks, a bottle of starter will cost about the same, there's enough starter in that bottle it will last you for a decade. I use and toss the developer (Jobo) replenish the Flexicolor bleach (a 5 liter bottle will last forever 6-8 mL per roll replenishment ), use and toss the fixer. GET THE C-41RA Bleach
This will work great. Nothing more fun than processing slides.
Also just ordered a sous vide thing to keep temperature constant.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
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